© Jeff Pritchard |
The last time Ed gigged at the Railway he was playing a Yamaha tenor sax. Tonight however, he was using an alto sax made by Hanson, a Yorkshire based company, and sounding good on it.
As usual, on drums it was Tim Franks and together with John Sandham on bass and Liam Butler-Webb on Yamaha Keyboards Ed seemed very satisfied with the backing. Among the eleven tunes there were several unfamiliar ones especially in the second set when Ed introduced us to a couple of tunes written by fellow saxman Ed Jones - Paper’s Tale and So the Story Goes. We also heard plenty of the ballad side of Ed during the second half and this made me think of David Sanborn and Hank Crawford who also had a great sound on alto.
I always like to hear Ed when he delves into the Charlie Parker repertoire and during the first set he did some fine blowing on Confirmation which isn't an easy number to play. Also in the first set we heard a fine version of Yardbird Suite and I liked what he did with a Beatles' tune - In my Life.
Another number that worked well was John Scofield's Keep me in Mind and full marks to the rhythm section for their hard work supporting Ed. I think that Ed is playing better than ever and I am certainly glad I decided to attend this gig in spite of all difficulties I seem to be having with rail cancellations.
The next jazz gig at the Railway will be on May 12 at 9:00pm with the Liam Byrne Quartet. Mike Farmer
Like Someone in Love; Confirmation; In my Life; Yardbird Suite; In the Name of Love; What’ll I do?; When in Love; Paper Tales; So the Story Goes; Keep me in Mind; This is All I Ask.
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